The Search
by Soulreciever
Summary: What would happen if Setsuka was not Seishiro's true mother and she missed the chance to make him hers? How far would Setsuka go to assure the contination of the Sakurazukamori line? What would Seishiro grow into without the tree to hold him down? AU slas
1. First contact

The Search.

1: First touch.

T: While Silver Salamander is on holiday and I'm unable to update Penance I thought I'd start posting this one, both because I want to keep my regular readers reading and also because I genuinely like this story! Moving on there is a warning of slight AU, slash and of a Clamp Campus Detective crossover down the line…also this fic is, for the moment, without Beta so bare with me on spellings!

It's not mine though I'm flattered if you believe otherwise!

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She had cried so very hard when her Kasan had died, cried without a thought of stopping until he had kissed her tears away and told her that Kasan would not want her sad.

Though his fingers had been red still with her Kasan's blood and though there had been an odd emptiness in his smile she had known the truth of those words and had ceased to cry.

His empty smile had widened then into something truthful and somehow more frightening than the previous smile,

'I shall be you're Oniichan from now on.' He had told her as he had bundled her into his arms, that frightening smile present still on his lips.

Oniichan had looked after her so very well and his kindness had been enough that it was only when she was alone in the night that she recalled that he was the reason her Kasan was dead…

That she recalled him placing a hole in her Kasan's heart.

She knew that Oniichan watched her always, that even when she could not see him he was there in the shadows, watching and protecting her with all his might.

As she grew older his protectiveness became suppressive and often they would fight with one another about Oniichan's inability to let her live her life.

It was for this fact that she kept the secret of her pregnancy from Oniichan for as long as she did, for she feared that he would hunt out and kill the man responsible for her condition.

In the end it had turned out that Oniichan was more angry with her than with the father of her child and he allowed that anger to become him, allowed that anger to drive his murderous hands through her abdomen.

She had felt her lives blood drain from her…had felt, somehow, the heart of her baby still and a blind anger had over taken her.

But a moment later she was no longer bleeding, no longer dying a senseless death and yet for this privilege she had paid not one but two sacrifices.

The first sacrifice had been that of Oniichan's life, for her hand was through his heart now and there was no hope for him to live.

The second sacrifice had been that of her child's life, for the magic of the sakura had stripped all traces of the infant from her womb…had made it as though her child had never existed.

With his very last breath Oniichan had told her that he had loved her as more than a sister, that one day she would find herself one person who she would love as he loved her and that this One would be the person to end her life and take up the legacy of the sakura.

Drenched in Oniichan's blood and feeling a hollow within where there had once been life she could not believe those words…could not believe that her heart would ever again bare itself to the pain that came from loving.

After that day she had began to deal with her life as it was now, had refused, for the moment, to allow herself to be pulled into the numbness that the sakura was offering her.

She had planted a camellia bush in Oniichan's garden and had touched it with her magic so that the bright red of its blooms would remain even amid the chill of winter…so that always she could look at the flowers and recall the child that she had carried within her.

She had then undertaken her role as Sakurazukamori, had allowed the anger and hate that she felt towards the sakura to drive her hand and numb her heart so that she might kill without remorse.

She had become, slowly, two separate individuals; the caring, kindly nurse with time always to listen to problems and the emotionless Sakurazukamori who killed without prejudice and showed no mercy.

Yet even in the sunlight of the world that her kinder self lived within the shadow of the Sakurazukamori lingered.

For the magic that her 'other self' used had to backlash somewhere and who would count the loss of one who had already been upon the threshold of death?

Today the matron of the ward had asked her to sit the day with one of their more influential clientele and she had agreed both because it was something a little different from the ward work that was her normal and also because the assignment was a show of the matron's faith in her.

Her patient's son was sat with him as she entered the private ward and she noted that he was a handsome child, the rich honey of his eyes seeming to suit well the melancholy air that was about him.

There was something about the child that tingled a feeling of kinship within her and sparked a deeper yearning within the dark heart of her 'other self'.

"Ohiyo, I am Sakurazuka Setsuka and I will be with your father during the day." She remarks, a false smile springing readily to her lips.

The boy regards her a while under the patient stair of those beautiful eyes and then his attention diverting back to his father he replies,

"Yuko Seishiro." His voice liquid smooth and full of a bitterness that seems to suit him well enough that she feels a want to nurture it, to take it and twist it until this boy became as darkly perverted as herself.

Was this what Oniichan had first felt the day that he had first seen her? Had the want to have her completely to himself to do with as he would been why he had killed her Kasan and slaughtered her unborn child?

This she pondered as she sat with the boy and his father, this and the thought of what her life might be if she did took Seishiro into her care.

There is a temptation hidden in the dark heart of her to simply kill the boy's father and take away his memory so that he believes him hers…yet here in the hospital there are eyes watching always and to expose her powers so openly, to reveal her true face would be a terrible blow to the mystic of the Sakurazukamori.

"Is your father your only family?" She enquires, wishing to see if there is opportunity for her to take the boy away from the hospital and the risks that such an exposed location entails.

"No, there is Kasan also but she can not be with me yet for there are many who require her skills in Kyoto, thus I must do as I can on my own."

"She is coming soon though?"

"Yes, at the end of next week,"

There is a time limit then, which means she can not learn of where he lives or other such pertinent information by his tongue, as she had wished and will have, instead, to take the information from elsewhere.

The choice to do as such, to risk a little for this boy, is made as she reaches the house, thus she eats a smaller meal than she had planned and changes into a darkly coloured kimono that will hide her well in the darkness of the night.

She knows the hospital layout by heart and thus it is but the work of moments to locate the room that contains the patient's files and even less time to discover both the file of Seishiro's father and his home address.

There is a light on in the building and drawing close she is greeted with the image of her boy hugging close to a woman who can only be his mother.

His lips move to form the words,

'I did not think you were coming until next week.' His mother replies positively for he smiles and vanishes out of the room only to appear a moment later with a bag in his hand.

She feels her heart cease as she realises that he is leaving, that she shall loose him without having ever known him and stepping free the window she decides to risk taking the child and killing his mother as Oniichan had before her.

The two men that stand at the entrance to the house stop her, not because they pose threat to her personally but rather to the secrecy of her identity.

She will not let her boy free without some assurance that she can find him again when the desire takes her and thus she waits until he comes out of the house and then, very deliberately, bumps into him.

His mother is apologising instantly and Setsuka brushes her off politely before she catches her boy into her eyes,

"You are my One, Seishiro and I will find you again." She whispers as she kisses him once on the forehead.

The inverse pentagram that is her mark glows once on the skin that had made contact with her lips and then it is gone again, visible now only to her inner eyes.

Clearing the mind of his mother and the men that are with her she walks a little away from them before turning to watch that light drifting away from her reach.

"I will find you again."

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T: Ta da! The logic here is that in the series Seishiro's true mother does not come early and Setsuka makes him believe that she has raised him. Um the idea that Setsuka is not Sei-chan's true mother has been derived by myself from the fact that the sakura is always in blossom (Does not bare fruit!) and from Sei-chan's character story where he says that Setsuka came to him and said 'I am your mother' . R+R It'll make my day!


	2. Dreaming of you

2: Dreaming of you.

T: Have twiddled a bit with the summery and the rating as I set the rating too high (Duh!) and my summery got cut off! Warnings remain the same with an addition of a slightly odd dream sequence and a little blood. No I'm not a member of Clamp…sob!

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Every night she is there in his dreams, her skin a fine porcelain, her hair as the very darkness of night and her nails so red that he wonders always if she had painted them with blood.

He can not recall what the colour of her eyes were or what words her cherry red lips were forming and it is these details that bring always the headaches.

Kasan had been all but an emotional wreck when the headaches had gotten bad enough that he's began to bleed from the nose, fearing that he had contracted the cancer that had eventually killed Tousan.

He had known that it was not cancer, that the kiss that 'the woman' had placed on his forehead had done something to his memory so that thinking too long of that encounter would result in hurt of some kind.

It had become an obsession for him to know what, precisely, she had done and he had began to research into the various magical arts.

Eventually he had exhausted the shelves both at his home and in all the local libraries and yet still he had thirsted for knowledge of the one who haunted him always.

At ten years of age he had applied for a position in the prestigious Clamp Campus located at the heart of Tokyo, in an hope that there extensive resources may give him more an answer.

They had granted his application not because he was son to the former president of the Yuko Corporation, but rather because he was becoming already a recognised intelligence in all manner of things occult.

The library at the Campus had provided more answers than he had even dared hope and little by little he had pieced together an idea of what magic had been used against him.

Indeed so useful had the knowledge extricated from the library on Campus proven that he had remained on after his graduation as a lecturer and teacher of the history and legends of the occult. This so that he might continue his research into the nature of the woman.

Yet even after thirteen years of hard study she remained, illusive.

He knew that she was of a group known as the Sakurazukamori and that these individuals were tied somehow to the sakura and yet more than that he could not discover.

There were a few legends and pieces of hear say and yet he knew…somehow…that none were anywhere close to the truth.

There was a vain hope of clarification in the form of a particular Campus student and it was to the hope of a meeting that he had come to the Chairman of the class board's high school division.

He had known Imonoyama Noruko personally for six years now, having met the boy through his secretary and personal body guard Takumura Suoh.

The Takumura had been his Tai Kwan do sparring partner since the boy had been nine and though Seishrio had not, in all those years, beaten him he regarded it as a point of honour that he was in a minority who could claim to have come close.

He bows to the three men of the board and Noruko smiles before remarking,

"Good afternoon, Yuko-san."

"Good afternoon, Imonoyama-san."

"How can we be of service to you?"

"I have been informed that there is a student by the name of Sumeragi Subaru in your year."

"That is correct."

"I had hoped that you might arrange a meeting between us, for he holds knowledge that might be useful in my research."

"I fear that I must disappoint you, Sumeragi-san has commitments outside of the Campus grounds and does not regularly attend to his classes, thus making arranging a meeting between you all but impossible."

"I understand. Thank you for your time, Imonoyama-san." He remarks, bowing again to the board before he leaves the room.

He is a little up the hallway when a soft click informs him that someone has followed him and turning he is met with the patient gaze of the Takumura.

"Seishiro-sempi, perhaps you should take this as a sign to give up your search at last."

"Suoh-kun, if Imonoyama-san decided that he had no more want to be your friend, no more want for you to be always at his side…would you leave him?"

The boy glances over his shoulder and stepping a little closer he responds,

"No, for no matter what Kaichou will always be my One."

"Then you can understand why I saw that I can not give this search up…no matter if it seems hopeless or I learn something I wish I had not at the end of it."

"If you mean that then there is another solution. Sumeragi-san had a sister who attends class always and perhaps Kaichou might charm her into arranging a meeting between yourself and her brother outside of Campus grounds."

"I would appreciate it if you made such a suggestion to Imonoyama-san, Suoh-kun, especially when I know how uncomfortable it makes you to see him flirting with the ladies."

Those golden eyes narrow and he hisses,

"You promised you would not again mention my 'feelings' for Kaichou."

Seishiro breaks into laughter and replies,

"Yet I can not help but tease you sometime, Suoh-kun especially when you have still the advantage on me."

The boy shakes his head and his face again fixing into a more impassive mask he turns and walks back up the corridor and into the boardroom.

Seishiro is sat quietly in the library, his mind deeply mired in the mythological text that he is reading when a familiar head of blond hair appears in his peripheral vision.

The Imonoyama has an unfamiliar girl at his side, something about the way she was carrying herself telling him quickly that this was the sister of the boy he was seeking.

"Yuko-san, may I introduce you to Sumeragi Hokuto. Hokuto-chan this is Yuko Seishiro."

"I have heard your name mentioned often by my brother Yuko-san."

"Is that so?"

"Yes, he is constantly telling me that you are the greatest mind in Japan in regards to the occult and that he wises he knew of half the things you did."

He smiles lazily and leaning a little towards her he enquires,

"Do you think that he would agree to a meeting between us?"

"Of course! I will speak to him when I see him tonight, Yuko-san and I will let you know tomorrow where and when to meet him."

"Thank you, Sumeragi-san."

The girl laughs brightly and though it is a little obnoxious he finds himself smiling in response.

…………………………………………………………………………………

He is walking in the darkness of night, the only guidance he has a flickering lamp on the horizon.

The air is chill and he can feel the crunch of snow beneath his feet, yet he feels feverishly hot… as though his very blood is on fire.

The lamp light sways violently and suddenly he is stood before the doll like woman.

Her frail form is swamped in the folds of a crimson cloak, the vivid hue making her seem pail enough to be a corpse.

She smiles at him and her lips shape into three words before she sweeps the lantern away from her to reveal a giant cherry tree.

Yet there are not blossoms on the branches, but thousands upon thousands of corpses, each with a dark void where once their hearts had been.

The woman takes a hold of his hand and jumps into the branches.

Again her lips form into silent words and setting her lantern to one side she pulls him against her.

Her touch snuffs the fire within his blood and he feels, at last, the freezing cold of the night.

Suddenly his left hand is warm again and staring down he notes, slowly, that his hand is through her heart.

He pulls from her and she is smiling so gently as she falls to her knees that he believes that he had imagined that last image…

Yet his hand is warm still.

Blood coats his fingers and staring at the viscous liquid he feels panic cease at him.

She sees this, somehow, and with her last breath she moves so as to kiss his blood sodden digits.

The crimson hue matches well that of her lips and he marvels at this a moment before he screams at last.

He is screaming still as he awakes and he has to forcibly stop himself by biting hard to his pillow.

Once he is calm he writes the dream down in the notebook kept at his beside for just such a purpose and then he rises to wash his face.

For the briefest of moments he can see a vivid red mark on his forehead and then he is simply staring at his reflection.

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T: The bit with the lanterns is actually snitched from the legend that inspired Clamp to supposedly make the Sakurazukamori.

I know Suoh is a little OOC but I figure that knowing Sei-chan for six long years is bound to have meddled in his character a littler. Oh and for those curious Noruko is 16, Suoh is 15 and Akira is 14…I'll do the others as it comes up! R+R as the authoress survives on the sustenance that review provide her!


	3. Second Contact

3. Second Touch.

T: Warnings are the same and it's still not mine...still sad!

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Time was the oddest of things.

The last that she recalled she had been holding him in her arms, all but able to break him with one wrong movement and now…

Now it was he who held that power.

She would have simply passed him by in the street had it not been for the spark of her magic in his blood.

That spark had called to her and enthralled still within her illusion of invisibility she had allowed herself to look at the man her boy had become.

He was handsome, a confidence in the liquid brown of his eyes informing her that he knew this well, and yet…

Something of the melancholic edge that had so enticed her to him that first day had burned away and he seemed now as only a dim spark compared to what he might have been.

Despite this the heart of her yearned for him still and abandoning her previous desire to simply go home she instead chose to follow on his heals.

He slowed as he came in view of one of the many restaurants upon the street and as he headed for its entranceway she felt her magical senses flair.

There was one in this place who was as strong as her magically and yet the resonance of their gift was brighter that her own.

Oniichan had told her once of a group of people who were hunting him, who wished to punish him for feeding the sakura…

Sumeragi.

She had not understood then why anyone would wish to hurt Oniichan, he was kind and gentle, after all, yet now she knew all too well whey these individuals would wish death to the Sakurazukamori.

Was her boy here to talk to the Sumeragi about her? Or was it simply co-incidence that both those concerned chose this restaurant rather than any of the others?

Aware of the risk she decides to follow her boy and see what the answer to these questions was.

The one who held the aura of Sumeragi blood was but a child and there was an intoxicating innocence about him that she might have fallen for had she not already have found her One.

Her boy came to the Sumeragi's table and something in the way he sought out the others eyes as he introduced himself, told her that he too could see this fascination.

By the time the waitress came to take their order the pair were talking happily and seeing this she felt a dark envy blossom in the heart of her.

Has this been what Oniichan had felt each time she talked of the admirers she had had? Could this have been another reason for him to take her child from her?

It would be so painfully easy to kill this other even despite his blood and yet if she did that would she not be doing as Oniichan had to her?

She feels a tug from her link top her boy and she knows that he has voiced the name of her clan…knows that he has, indeed, come to learn of her.

The Sumeragi has stilled and suddenly the aura of levity has passed into one of business.

The Sumeragi talks now in a more formal manner and the bright spark in his eyes has faded into something resembling professionalism.

Her boy listens intently; indeed he pulls a notebook free of his bag and begins making notes, something that brings a small smile to the Sumeragi's lips.

Any doubt as to the focus of their discussion flees as she watches him sketch her mark into a blank sheet of notebook paper and passes it to the Sumeragi.

The child nods in understanding and moves as though to touch her boys forehead.

A crack of magic prevents him from actually making skin contact and his face firms into a very grim expression.

She knows that he is telling her boy what she is and what that mark upon his skin means and thus it hurts as her boy reacts in an adverse manner to the news.

She had hoped, vainly, that her boy would recall her kindness and see past the half lie that the Sumeragi had given him in regard to the mark.

For though her mark had been used before as a way to single out her prey, she had not used it as such on her boy.

No, she had marked him simply so that should she wish she could look for him and see whether he was well or no.

Yet then how could she expect him to see such a thing when he only knew the bad things that had been written about the Sakurazukamori? When there was none but herself who knew the truth behind the tales and of the perverse nature of the Sakurazukamori heart?

Perhaps there was a way for her to make him see things from her perspective…perhaps there was a way to get between her boy and the Sumeragi before the fascination between them grew to something more.

Yet how?

She feels a pull on her inner awareness that comes from her connection to the sakura and despite her reservations she allows her mind to turn inwards…

Allows the sakura's world to envelope her.

It is dark here and there is the chill of snow always in the air and yet here and here alone does she feel truly whole…

Truly alive.

In this world the sakura is a gargantuan thing, its size steadily increasing as it feeds form the lives of those she had given to it.

Upon each of its branches stands the shades of the Sakurazukamori that have come before her, their faces as blank and emotionless in death as they had been in life.

On the lowest branch Oniichan stands alone, his face twisted into the mockery of a smile which had graced his face even as he had died within her arms.

'_Setsuka.'_ It is spoken with all the voices of the Sakurazukamori and yet it is Oniichan's voice that is strongest to her…that she desires the most to hear.

'Niichan, what can I do for you?'

He moves, his form blurring about the edges as he does so and then his fingers are upon her face.

They are as ice and she leans towards that chill, yearning for him to numb away every hurt and anxiety she had ever felt.

_'We come to do something for you, Setsuka.'_

'What?'

_'You have found the One who has brought you heat here…'_ He stretches to touch the skin above her heart and this time there is no chill but rather an odd burning sensation.

'Yes, yes I have found my One.'

_'Yet there is a threat, one who could be as everything to you One.'_

'That is true and yet what can I do? Seishiro is not truly mine and by stalling I have assured that he is lost to me forever.'

_'Not forever.' _He remarks as he brings her hard into an embrace. _'I shall bring you as close to him as I can, Setsuka and then it is up to you what happens next.' _He remarks before he kisses her once on the lips.

She comes back sharply to reality at that, her invisibility falling away as a sudden sharp pain engulfs her. .

The staff at the restaurant surround her almost instantly, their murmured voices all but inaudible as she hears her boy's voice so very close to her.

She can not stop her traitorous mouth from voicing his name and it is hearing a strangers voice spilling from her that she knows what Oniichan has done.

Her boy's brow furrows and he closes to take a better look of her she can see herself reflected there in his eyes…or rather, she can see the body of the 16 year girl that Oniichan has given her.

"Do I know you?" her boy enquires and thinking on her feet she replies,

"Forgive my familiarity, Yuko-san, but I recognised your face from something that I had seen recently."

He smiles then and enquires,

"Would that be the Clamp Campus handbook by any chance?"

"Yes."

"If you are thinking on enrolling I can highly recommend it; in fact I could ask the Kaichou of the High school division to show you around tomorrow if you would like.

Oniichan's words ring clear in her head and she knows she can not deny the opportunity that has been given to her with such kindness.

"That would be appreciated, Yuko-san."

"Who shall I tell the Kaichou to expect?"

"Sakurazuka Sakura."

"I shall look forward to seeing you on campus, Sakurazuka-san." He remarks before he is gone from her side.

She is tingling with excitement by the time she leaves the café and she diverts from her normal path home to visit the sakura and thank her Niichan for this gift.

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T: Yep Sakura/ Setsuka is going to be causing a great deal of trouble! Subaru is 16 here for those wondering! R+R as I begin to feel I'm talking to myself!


	4. Star Crossed

4. Star crossed.

T: Sorry about the delay but I've been chained up at work! Warnings the same and it's still not mine…sigh…

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Something about the girl who had fainted in the cafeteria had recalled to him the woman in his dream and yet that could easily have been simply because of the subject he had been discussing with Subaru-kun, but moments before the incident.

He had dreamt, last night, not of the woman, but of Subaru-kun and the way that his beautiful green eyes had all but closed off as he'd told him the truth of the one Seishiro had searched a lifetime for.

'They use their magic to kill, not for pleasure or money, but simply to feed the spirit of the sakura.'

'What of this mark?' He had enquired as he had sketched onto his notebook an inverse pentagram.

The boy had shook his head and said,

'It is the mark of the clan and they place it on those that they wish to kill.'

'Am I so marked?' He enquired.

The boy stretches from him and there is a bright crackle of energy before the boy had sighed and replied,

'Yes…I am sorry.'

In the dream Seishrio had smiled and stretched to touch that all but translucent skin before informing the boy,

'I want your care, not your pity, Subaru-kun.'

The boy had smiled beautifully and stretched to caress his face before Seishiro had felt himself stirring into wakefulness.

He had not wrote the dream into his book, fearing both that Subaru might one day come upon it and that somehow Subaru would prove as much a foolish obsession as his previous.

Suoh is waiting for him as he crosses onto the Campus grounds, displeasure clear in his golden eyes,

"Why am I granted the pleasure of your company so early in the morning?"

"Kaichou is busy entertaining our new student,"

"Do Akira and yourself not usually aid him in the orientation of new students?"

"We do, usually, but Kaichou has decided that our skills could be better used 'elsewhere' today."

"And you left him voluntarily?"

"No, he is just over there." The younger boy remarks as he gestures to a shock of blond hair clear on the walkway a little to their right.

Sakura is beside him, her beautiful face all but glowing as she speaks to Noruko of something or another.

"This is the first time I have had to be this far way from him because he has asked it of me…

"I knew that one day he would decide to choose one girl to care for above the others, but I hopped…" He trails as the pair turn suddenly in their direction and Sakura's melodic voice cries,

"Ohiyo, Yuko-san."

Noruko is smiling in a carefree manner Seishiro had believed reserved for Suoh alone and there is an evident weariness in the Imonoyama's attitude towards his bodyguard that had not before been present.

"I must thank you for convincing Sakura-chan to visit the Campus, Yuko-san."

He feels Suoh's glare directed towards him and he smiles politely before saying,

"I am sure she would have come here eventually even without my goading, Imonoyama-san and you will excuse my abruptness but as Takumura-san is free I would like to take the opportunity to improve my form."

The Imonoyama remarks before he takes a gentle hold of his charges arm and escorts her away down the path.

Once he was entirely out of earshot Seishiro informs Suoh,

"I did not know Noruko would fall for her, nor did I plan for such a thing."

He sighs and his eyes slide closed before he remarks,

"I know and I am sorry for the accusation."

He re-shoulders his book bag and enquires,

"Are you going to carry on following them, or would you actually care to join me in a little work out."

"A spar actually sounds like a good idea." He replies.

As always Suoh wins each spar, though on their second match Seishiro almost had the Takumura, something that concerned him enough that once they had had enough he enquires,

"This thing with Noruko has you very concerned, doesn't it, Suoh-kun?"

"Something is not right, Seishiro-sempi…I feel as though he is in danger, as though there is some enemy close to him and yet there is no one but that girl.

"I worry that I am allowing my emotions to cloud my judgement, worry that my envy is making her seem as threat to him…worry that I shall be so focused on hating her that I will not see a real threat to him before it is too late."

"Suoh-kun, I know you too well to believe such a thing…perhaps it is true that your envy of Sakurazuka-san is clouding your view of her and yet I do not believe it will ever be enough to make you blind to a true threat to your one." Suoh sighs and an odd melancholy falls over him before he replies,

"I wish I could have such a faith in myself as you do, Seishiro-sempi…"

………………………………………………………………………….

Seishiro is sat eating his lunch when he spots Subaru amongst the crowd, the younger lad's lithe form all but disappearing amid the fabric of his uniform.

"Subaru-kun!" The boy smiles when his eyes catch Seishiro's and pushing his way through the masses he makes his way to the table,

"Good afternoon, Seishiro-san."

"Good afternoon, Subaru-kun. I assume that you have not had to work today,"

"That is right…how are you today?" He enquires as he settles into the chair opposite.

"Truly? I have been more than a little paranoid today…jumping at every shadow and generally reacting as though the Sakurazukamori is going to appear from no-where and kill me."

"IT is an understandable reaction and I am sorry that the news could not have been better for you.

"However, there are many things we can do to insure that she can not find you and even should I be unable to dispel the curse completely I think we should be able to make sure that you live as long as you are destined to."

Seishiro dips to pull a few thick textbooks from his bag and sprawling them onto the table he says,

"I have already been researching warding spells and other related things in hope that you would make such an offer to me."

The Boy grabs for the text book and flips through the pages until something catches his eyes and he places it, still open, onto the table.

"The kanji for this basic warding spell is printed incorrectly, yet someone has not only written it out correctly in the margin but they have improved the spell so that it heals as well as wards." He remarks as he points to the precise annotations clear in the margin of the text book.

"What are you inferring?" Seishrio enquires anger clear in his voice; the boy flushes and replies,

"I simply wished to compliment your work, Seishrio-san…I am sorry if I offended you in any manner."

Cursing the quick temperedness inherited from his father he stretches to grab for the younger boys hand, both in a wish to comfort and simply for the desire to touch the boy.

"Subaru-kun, I did not mean to scare you…I am a little wary when it comes to my choice in profession, especially after kasan reacted so violently to my choice."

That was, of course, an understatement.

Kasan had never completely understood his wish to pursue his obsession with the woman from his dreams and when he had chosen that obsession over his father's business…

She had refused to disinherit him, hopeful still that he would come to his sense, but she had denied him the money and the connections that had been his by birthright and may have made his search all the easier.

"Why did you decide on this path then?" The boy enquires as he loops their fingers together in an almost casual gesture.

"Ever since the Sakurazukamori left her mark upon me I have dreamt of her…have seen nothing but her in my dreams.

"I wished to know why that was and what it was that she told me each night as I was dreaming and thus I began to research into the occult.

"Though I learned nothing of consequence about her I found that I was fascinated by the occult and after being accepted to Clamp Campus I decided to make that obsession into an actual profession."

"Do you regret that choice now when you have learned the truth of her you hunted?"

"No, for though she has proven less than I had made her in my mind…though this hunt has divided me from my family…I have gained much through it."

The boy blushes again and leasing his hand he returns to his examination of the spell books.

Being this close to the boy is oddly intoxicating and he has to constantly prevent himself from researching out for unnecessary contact between them.

He has felt such desires before and yet they have never so affected his control…

Perhaps he feels this way for the openness of the boy's manner and his soul or perhaps it is because he believes he feels some odd bond of kinship between them.

Whatever the reason he comprehends that already he desires so very much of the boy…

Desires more than he knows is permissible when they have known one another for but the briefest of instants.

Something that Suoh had said to him once, long ago, comes to him and it seems all the more poignant considering the current situation his friend was in.

'As a Ninja I hide always in plain sight, even in regards to my emotions.

'I care for Kaichou as you know and I refuse to be ashamed of that care. However, I am aware that loving as such has a potential for danger or exploitation, thus though I allow myself to do for Kaichou as I wish, I shall never overtly make my feelings clear.

'Thus other people are free to make what assumptions they will of my feelings.

Subaru seemed almost as naïve as Noruko when it came to the matter of 'love' and Seishiro was practiced enough that he could easily coddle the boy without ever being overtly affectionate.

Smiling to himself Seishiro leans forwards in his chair and allows himself to let go his control and simply enjoy being in Subaru's presence.

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T: Next chapter either tomorrow or Tue depending on how I go! R+R I'm desperate for any sign that someone is reading this!


	5. Pride

5. Pride.

T: forgive the delay…the germs got me I'm afraid so I spent all of yesterday in bed…as an apology I give you not one but two chapters! Warnings the same and I remain an owner of these guys in my head alone!

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The plan had formulated quickly in her mind, almost upon the very moment the fax had come in reply to her request for information on the Clamp Campus.

Niichan had taught her always that patience was a virtue and that sometimes to get to the goal one had to take a longer path.

Though it hurt to admit, she knew that her boy would not simply welcome her back with open arms and that gaining again his undivided attention would take time.

Her clearest rout seemed to be to court the favour of her Kaichou, who was, according to all her sources, somewhat of a ladies man and more than likely to take the girls side of a lovers quarrel.

Furthermore it seemed that there was a familiarity, of not a friendship, between the Imonoyama heir and her boy, thus making it more likely that her plan would hold firm.

She would gain the favour and the soul attention of the Imonoyama and when assured that he trusted her above all others she would admit to him of her care for Seishiro.

The Imonoyama would then, if he was as his profile stated, aid her in gaining the soul attention of her boy and perhaps even in ousting the Sumeragi enough that should the opportunity arise she could kill him without raising the alarm.

She is escorted across the campus grounds by two individuals who are very clearly security guards and she takes this opportunity to assess the Campus's idea of defence.

They hold themselves with a tense weariness that is admirable and the subtle budges about their hips tell of small professional guns rather than the bulkier weapons that she has seen before on security personal.

Oddly the guards seems to relax as they come to what is, supposedly, their destination and she wonders at this until they cross into the room itself.

There are three individuals awaiting her arrival, two of whom are seated and the other whom is standing.

There is something in the eyes of this boy and his proximity to the individual whom she has come to meet that tells her instantly that he is a bodyguard.

Yet she can not see about his person any obvious weapons and this tells quickly that he is a Ninja…no, not simply Ninja, but Takumura, which was, of course, a very immediate concern.

For the Takumura holds an obvious affection for her attended target and she is assured that should she prove even the smallest of threats towards the Imonoyama the Ninja will dispatch of her without hesitation.

One of the security personal has introduced her and the Imonoyama stands in order to bow gallantly and introduce both himself and his two companions,

"I am Imonoyama Noruko and these are my associates, Iyjin Akira and Takumura Suoh." The boy introduced as Iyjin stands to bow to her also and there is a lightness in his movement that warns that he is more than she had presumed him.

Bowing also she introduces herself with her assumed name, assuring that a little of her gift travels with the syllables so that Noruko is entranced by her instantaneously.

By the time they are at the second destination of interest Noruko has asked his 'subordinates' to leave them alone and there is an openness to his manner that tells that she has achieved already her first goal.

Noruko is actually more of an incitement than she had initially realised and she finds herself constantly surprised not only by his intelligence but by the shear force of his personality.

She finds herself laughing without having to force herself and though she is aware always of the desire he feels for her she finds herself able to relax in his presence.

She feels the tingle of her boy's presence and the rush of adrenaline that comes from the knowledge that he is near starts her sharply from the naive tranquillity she had fallen into.

Using that awareness she finds him quickly, his head turned from them for the moment as she talks to the Takumura boy.

She yearns to see his face again, yearns for his smile even if he is giving it to Sakura rather than her true face.

Thus she takes a soft hold of Noruko's wrist and leaning a little towards him enquires,

"Could we spare a moment to see Yuko-san, Noruko-chan?"

"How do the two of you know one another anyway?" He enquires, his manner suddenly closed and suspicious.

She forces a blush onto her face and her eyes not meeting his she informs him,

"It is not like that, Noruko-chan, indeed I only met Yuko-san yesterday."

"Then why are you so keen to see him?"

"Because he was the one who recommended that I come to the Clamp Campus and because he was chivalrous enough to see if I were well when I fainted yesterday afternoon."

"I see." His smile returns then and flipping out his fan he gestures towards the two and says,

"We may, if you wish, linger a moment to talk to Yuko-san."

"Arigato." She replies, bowing deeply before she gives in, at last, to her desire to call out for him.

The Takumura is clearly weary still of her and as her boy and Noruko are talking to one another of her boy's part in her presence here his eyes never leave hers but to show his displeasure at her boy for allowing her to get this close to his beloved.

Her boy seems to little care for this hatred for he cuts the conversation short and makes and excuse for this by stating a desire to 'work on his form' while he had opportunity.

She desires to see her boy practicing with the Takumura, both simply so that she might admire his style and also sp that she can assess both her boys fighting ability and the Takumura's also.

She knows, however, that Noruko will not so easily give up the opportunity to be alone with her and wishing to allow him a little longer she allows him to take her away from the presence of her boy.

Once they are far enough from the pair that she is assured that even the Takumura can not see or hear them she places a strong sleeping spell onto Noruko and hides him up in the branches of a large oak.

Assured that he is well hidden from all but her own eyes she shrouds herself into her illusion of invisibility and follows the faint imprint of her magic until she comes again upon her boy.

He is finishing his warming pattern, his body moving from stance to stance in a fluidity that speaks of familiarity and strong tuition.

His feet strike the matting on the floor of the hall for the last time and bowing to the Takumura he enquires,

"Are you going into this spar cold?"

"Seishiro-sempi, you know that I am never 'cold', that everyday Kasan has me practice my art."

"You sound insulted, Suoh-san, that was not my intent. I meant rather to assure myself that you had not decided to take pity on me and give me a slightly advantage over you."

The Takumura bows and replies,

"I would never insult your honour in such a fashion." Before he relaxes into a fighting stance.

They move in a fluid anticipation that shows well that they have spent many years learning one another's form.

Her boy slightly favours his right side, something that the Takumura takes advantage of quickly by moving beneath her boy's strikes to catch him into a perfectly executed Bandae-dolryo-cha-gi.

Her boy springs quickly back onto his feet and bowing he enquires,

"I suppose I am relying too heavily on my 'confident' side again?"

"You are better than you were, Seishiro-sempi, enough so that this time I almost did not get the opening I needed to execute that kick." He replies before he settles back into his fighting stance.

This time her boy moves without fault, his face straitened into an intense concentration as he assures that he keeps this perfection and does not again move to favouring his right side.

Seeing him in this manner, so intent to learn from his mistakes and perfect himself, brings to her a twinge of dark pride and she knows that no matter how much he has changed she wishes to have him still.

Wishes him to carry her legacy once she is dead.

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T: A Bandae-dolryo-cha-gi is, if I have my terminology correct, a backwards spinning kick. R+R as I now eat praise!


	6. Shattered Promises

6. Shattered promises. 

T: Chapter two of the double helping…don't get too used to this! Not mine and warnings remain the same.

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It had been a week since he and Subaru had first began to search for a counter spell, time in which he had learned a great deal about the Sumeragi and had come to terms with the odd longing he felt for the boy.

The week had seen also an increasing bond between Noruko and Sakura and it was clear now to all who knew the Imonoyama well that he was deeply besotted by the girl.

As always he and Subaru had arranged to eat their lunch together and as today was one of the rare occasions when Subaru was at school and thus had made the meeting perfectly on time, they were also conducting a little more research.

They were deep in concentration when a polite voice enquires,

"Might I have a moment Yuko-san?"

Glancing away from his book he is met with the bright grey eyes of Akira Iyjin,

"Is it time for class already?" Subaru enquires as he reaches down to grab his book bag.

"No it is not, Sumeragi-san.

"It is rather that I wondered if Yuko-san might know where either Takumura-sempi or Imonoyama-sempi have gone."

"I am afraid not Iyjin-san, Why?"

"Imonoyama-sempi had arranged for a meeting this morning to discuss one of Kaichou's passing fancies but the board room was empty when I arrived.

"I thought, perhaps, that Kaichou had changed his mind so I went to look for him in class…he was not there and his 'fan club' had not seen him.

"I was a little concerned and recalling that Ukato-san had said Takumura-sempi and Nagisa-chan kept still in regular contact I went and asked her if she had seen him.

"She told me that she had talked to him just yesterday and that he seemed upset about something. She also suggested that I ask you as Takumura-san had talked of potentially sparing with you today."

"I see." It was clear from the shear volume of information form the usually sedate boy that he was truly concerned and Seishiro knew well that if Akira was truly concerned then something was most defiantly not right.

"Do not worry, Iyjin-san, I am sure that if we pool our knowledge we shall find them."

"It is clear that they are not anywhere obvious or otherwise one of Imonoyama-san's fan club would have seen him by now." Akira remarks as he takes the free seat at the table.

"It is also clear that something has changed between yesterday afternoon and this morning for Suoh-san to have mentioning anything to anyone."

"Perhaps whatever it is that had Takumura-san so down yesterday has finally come to a head." Subaru remarks, clearly eager to join in on the conversation.

"Yes, but how? Takumura-sempi is a patient man and for something to have pushed him…"

"It is Imonoyama-san." He remarks, his eyes drifting to focus on the middle distance.

"You are right, of course, the only thing that could ever truly upset Takumura-sempi would be Imonoyama-sempi's casual dismissal of him in the past few days."

"Is it possible that Suoh-san has 'had enough' of that dismissal and chose to confront Imonoyama-san?" Subaru enquires.

Seishrio turns to catch Akira's eye and the younger man nods before he says,

"That being the case I think I know where Takumura-sempi may be."

"Might I come with you Iyjin-san?"

"Of course, Yuko-san."

He gains his feet and bowing to Subaru enquires,

"Will you be here tomorrow?"

"As far as I am aware I shall be."

"Then I shall see you then."

Only one he is assured that he shall be seeing Subaru at the same time tomorrow (Less the boy receive a job in the interim) does he take Akira's lead, his eyes picking out landmarks in a hope that he would comprehend where they were actually going.

This hope was dashed as Akira turned down onto a small pathway that Seishrio had not previously known was there, yet was clearly familiar to the younger man for the confidence in his stride.

Clearly then this was one of the secret areas in the Campus designed by varying generations of Imonoyama's and to which Suoh had referred to from time to time when he was aggravated at Noruko's uncanny ability of the campus.

The tiny pathway opened out into a small ornamental garden that seemed all but out of place within the technical metropolis of the Campus.

Suoh was stood in the centre of the bridge, his eyes cast down to the stream.

Akira called the others name and as his attention was drawn towards them it becomes clear that their logic had been correct.

For clear on Suoh's skin is the beginnings of a bruise, the blow hat had been its cause strong enough to split the skin of the lip.

"Takumura-sempi, what has happened?"

"I went, yesterday evening, to talk to Kaichou about how he has been treating us of late.

"He was entertaining Sakurazuka-san and was thus very abrasive with me, something that I used as an example when he asked for one.

"I believed that he was actually listening to me and that he would apologise but then she intervened.

"She asked why I was so concerned by the fact that Kaichou was spending time with her and then she informed me that she knew 'the truth' about my feelings for Kaichou.

"I told her that my personal feeling held no sway in this matter and she laughed at me.

"I was so angry with Kaichou, with her and with myself that I raised my voice against her.

"Of course Kaichou could not suffer that and he struck out against me.

"It shocked me and yet it was his words that hurt me the most…he said that he was aware that I could not let him go, that I had chosen him for life and not simply for the short blissfulness of our childhood.

"He then told me that he wished me to leave, wished for me to be as far from him as possible and then he simply returned to talking to Sakura as though I had never been there."

"I am sure that Kaichou was simply saying those things in the heat of the moment, Takumura-sempi."

"I thought so too and so I went to the mansion again this morning in hopes of catching him before he came to Campus.

"He was not there but he had left a note with his mother that he had instructed that I see."

He raises a hand to present the both of them with the letter in question.

Akira goes to join his friend on the bridge and taking the letter from him he reads it before gesturing that Seishrio should do the same thing.

Joining the pair on the bridge he takes the 'letter; and after reading the four words written on the sheet passes it back to Akira.

"What shall you do now, Suoh-san?"

"When you asked me what I would so in a situation such as this, Seishiro-sempi, I told you that I would stay at Noruko's side no matter what and yet now…

"Kasan said that when she asked tousan to leave her, he went to tour America before coming back to Japan to watch her at a distance.

"I was tempted to do the same thing until I recalled that Kasan also told me that it was in that time in America that tousan met the men who would eventually attempt to kill kasan."

"Not everyone in America is a murderer, Suoh-san."

"I know, but despite that I can not go…to be so far from Kaichou would feel wrong.

"Tousan only left because he feared that he was endangering kasan by remaining here, which is ironic considering the outcome."

Recalling that Suoh had once told him his mother's reasoning behind her dismissal of her Takumura and wishing to distract his friend a moment from his current problem he replied,

"It is also a little sad considering that your mother feared she was the one causing the danger rather than your father."

Suoh smiles then and remarks,

"Takumura's have never been particularly lucky in regards to the heart." Before his eyes again drift to the stream. "Kaichou wishes me out of sight and as I can not bare to be continents away from him I thought, perhaps, to go to Kyoto for a while.

"Kasan informs me that there is a rumour that one of the temples is harbouring a master of a rare marital art.

"It would benefit my training to learn this art and at least then it would not feel as though I am abandoning Kaichou, but rather that I am learning that which I do not know in order to be a better protector."

"How long shall you be gone?"

"A year…maybe two."

Akira pails at that response and gripping to his friend's shirt he enquires,

"You are serious, are you not, Takumura-sempi?"

"What else can I do, Iyjin-san? You have read those words and you know well what they mean.

"My One has asked me to leave and leave I will because I love him and I can not bare the thought of being a nuisance to him."

"I admire your resolve, Takumura-san and I am glad that you have finally voiced your feeling for him to me.

"However good your intent we both know that Kaichou is in constant danger and no matter how well informed of his status you remain you must consider that Kyoto is a long train ride away.

"If you could not get to him in time or if you found trouble while away from him as your tousan did…"

"I know that you can not stay on Campus, especially when Kaichou is as he is, but I do not think you should leave Tokyo."

"Yet where can I go in this town? Where will Kaichou not find me?"

"Come to my home, Suoh-sempi, my mother's have and ability to hide the obvious."

Suoh regards Akira a moment and then bowing thanks the boy kindly.

They move to leave the area and Suoh stops a moment to take the letter from Akira and cast it into the lake before he continues back out onto the Campus grounds.

Seishiro watches the stark white paper drifting down the stream and finds himself thinking again of those hard words that had so destroyed the quiet, confident, boy that Suoh had once been.

'I meant it Takumura-san.'

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T: I don't know why I thought up this history for Suoh's mother and father…it just clicked. R+R…I've run out of reasons!


	7. Contact

7. Contact.

T: Nothing much to say today so strait into the disclaimer I go…Warnings remain the same and guess what? That's right I still fail to own anything here other than the plot!

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She feels no guilt for forcing Noruko to choose between herself and his bodyguard, despite the fact that it was coming closer to a point where she would reveal that she did not truly care for him.

Even tough Noruko's smile had lost a little of its brilliance and she felt always now as though she was playing a part, she still felt no guilt.

Only her boy's tears could ever hurt her, after all.

She sits a while with Noruko, laughing falsely at the jokes he seems to be telling simply to maintain the levity that is expected of him and then she makes her excuses and goes to find her boy.

She had thought to see him with the Sumeragi and had thus prepared her heart for the bruising that would occur from witnessing them together.

Thus when she finds him alone she is unable stop, for a moment, the wild beating of her heart, unable to stop the deep overwhelming desire to simply hold him and never let go.

She knows that she must do these things, that there is no cause yet to shatter the illusion that has been placed about her and thus she breaths deep and casually approaches him before enquiring if she might join him at his table.

He regards her with a patient look that recalls to her their very first meeting and the wave of nostalgia that hits her again threatens the tiny amount of control that she has over herself.

After a moment his eyes droop and his hands raise the book he is clutching back into a position where he might read it without having to look again upon her.

"Forgive me if I seem rude, Sakurazuka-san, but I am sure you shall understand if I refuse that request." He informs her after a moment of ignoring her as such.

"I did not ask Noruko-chan to forcibly defend me, Yuko-san, nor did I request that he turn Takumura-san away." She replies, desperate for the displeasure to fade away from his voice and his manner.

"I comprehend well that it is simply Noruko's care for you that has made him act as he has, however, in deference to Suoh-san I can not talk with you as though nothing has occurred."

"Of course." She replies.

His voice is full still of a cold indifference and though it had been such a tone that had first sparked her interest in him she can not now bare it.

Though she knows that she should stick still to her plan, knows that it is foolish to turn away now when she has come so far, she can not help but decide to risk a little.

Shrouding both herself and her boy into an illusion of invisibility she wraps about the child's facade a mimicry of her true form.

It takes him a moment to register the chance and then he is up on his feet, a wild panic clear in his eyes.

"Have you come to kill me at last?"

She smiles and stretching to caress the skin on his forehead where her mark lies, she informs him,

"It is not like that," Before she pulls the darkness of the sakura's world from within her to infuse into the illusion, so that they are stood now beneath the gigantic visage of that she serves.

Oniichan is stood a little before them, his eyes expectant despite the illusion of apathy that he is giving with his smile.

Bowing politely she gestures to her boy and says,

'Niichan, this is my 'One', Seishiro Yuko.'

Oniichan bows and greets her boy politely before enquiring,

'Why is he here, Setsuka, when it is clear through his eyes that he is, as yet, unprepared for this?'

'One of the Sumeragi has been poisoning him against us and I had hoped that we could show him the truth of being Sakurazukamori.'

There is a speculative look hidden still in Oniichan's eyes, yet despite this he moves to stand directly before her boy and waving a hand before him utters a simple incantation.

An odd glazed look comes upon her boys eyes and instantly she is on the attack,

'What have you done, niichan?'

'I have simply assure that he will recall this simply as dream, until such a point where he is forced to realise that it is not as such.'

The knowledge that he shall recall this only as fabrication lends her courage and she stretches to take his hand into hers.

'Seishiro, though it is true that we are killers and that our emotions are hardened by our bond to the tree this is only a portion of the truths of our race.

'As Sakurazukamori there are two hardships you must face, both of which come at the beginning and the ending of your time as that individual.

'As Sakurazukamori you love but once and it is through that love…through the hand of the 'one' you care for…that you shall die.

'The knowledge that this is so is one of the hardships you must bare and it is always the final secret that is passed between the previous and the new Sakurazukamori before the transfer of power is finally completed.

'As to the second hardship…as with the Sakurazukamori's bond with the tree it varies from person to person and yet it is the reason why the Sakurazukamori feels nothing.

'For myself it came in the form of a choice…the choice to did along with my unborn child and be always a good mother or to take Oniichan's power and live at the expense of my baby's life.

'For the Sakurazukamori is barren always, trapped as their tree in the eternal twilight of spring.

'This I knew and yet still I chose to take Oniichan's power…chose to live despite what it would mean for the child.

'Making such a choice placed me perfectly as the next Sakurazukamori, for it hardened my heart to useless emotion.

'Yet the first day that I saw you I felt…hot…felt alive for the first time in years and I knew you would be next.' She smiles and placing her hands to mark on his head informs him, 'You are mine, Seishiro and when the time comes right you shall kill me and face your own hardships.'

'Why?' It is mussy, as though he is heavily sedated and again she can not but take advantage of this weakness.

This time she pulls him tight to her and breaths deep the scent that she will mark in her mind as uniquely his.

Lowering her hand to clench into the material above his heart she smiles and informs him,

'I do not know why you shall kill me, nor why you will carry on this legacy, but I shall tell you my reasoning.

'I killed Oniichan so that I might live and because he had been the one to kill my child.

'I chose to serve the sakura for it offers me peace…offers me a place where I can simply cease to be.

'For in the night time I allow the sakura to swamp me and it takes my anger, hate and lust for vengeance and turns those feelings to its advantage.'

He looks still unsure and yet she knows this is all that she can do, knows that already she has trodden beyond what was normally discussed before the power of the sakura had been passed on.

Thus she uncurls the illusion from about them, until they are stood again within the campus and she wears again the face of the little girl 'sakura.'

Her boy looks ashen and as he sways she moves, so very afraid that he shall harm himself or mayhap even die before she can seal the transference.

She holds him to her a moment, simply so that she might have again the pleasure of his warmth against her own and then she screams, her child's voice adding a discordant high note to the sound that could well be taken for panic.

There are people crowding her almost instantly and then Noruko is at her side, his hands smoothing her hair in a subconscious desire to touch and an outward desire to comfort.

"We were talking, Noruko-chan and then Yuko-san simply collapsed…he was so pail and…and…"

Noruko murmured a few empty nothing to her before he looked to the crowd and enquired,

"Has someone rung for a doctor?"

There was an affirmative from somewhere amid the throng and satisfied Noruko bent so that he could look her in the eyes as he told her,

"Yuko-san is strong, Sakura-chan and I am sure he shall recover.

"For now the best we can do is be strong for him."

She turns the tears off easily and blinking she replies,

"Hai, Noruko-chan."

This earns her a smile and then he is turning again to the crowd, wishing to move them on both so that the doctor can get to her boy with more ease and also, se suspects, so that she might calm down a little more.

Noruko distracted momentarily she bends to whisper two words to her boy before she stands and waits for the doctor, somehow confident now that everything shall turn in her favour.

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T: Ta da! I like the idea that Setsuka can be childish and unsure when in the presence of her 'oniichan' thus the minute changes in her speech pattern. The whole complicated nature of the Sakurazukamori line is a bit of my own reasoning and a slight humanisation of the beasts that Clamp created…more little niggles, such as why Setsuka has changed her attitude towards the tree, shall be answered soon enough. Keep reading and review as well…no I don't have a reason I'm afraid!


	8. Behind the Illusion

8: Behind the illusion.

T: Weee…I actually have reviewers so joy! Things really are moving very swiftly now and for those of an emotional kind of leaning now is the time to escape…can't be more specific without spoiling things I'm afraid…mwhaha! Oh and I don't own it (more is the pity!)

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Though he has never been within the walls he knows himself in the Imonoyama mansion almost the very moment he wakes.

Where else in Japan could be found the oddly eclectic mix of traditional and fringe design, after all?

"So you are finally awake." That is Noruko and there is something in his voice that brings Seishiro to enquire,

"What happened?"

"You fainted without warning…the doctor said that it was a combination of exhaustion and something else that he could not quite understand.

"I had thought you were taking care of yourself, Yuko-san."

There is a sarcastic remark threatening on Seishiro's tongue and he has to bite it back before he responds,

"I have had others to concern myself over of late, Imonoyama-san."

There is the smallest of traces of guilt in the boy's eyes and then he flicks out his foolish fan and tapping Seishiro once on the arm informs him,

"Sakura-chan was with you when you fainted and it scarred her so."

"And?" He regrets allowing his feelings though this time, for a dangerous anger sparks into Noruko's eyes and the fan vanishes as though it had never been there.

"I am aware that you are angry at me for Takumura-san's sake, but I would ask you not to take that anger out on Sakura-chan." He stands and pacing to the doorway he enquires,

"What if someone else had been with you Yuko-san? What if it had been someone else who you had scared, would you be so casual then, or would you perhaps take my point?"

Someone is there as he opens the door and he talks a little to this other before he steps out of the room and the other, Subaru, steps inside.

The boy is dressed in one of his sisters creations and Seishiro knows well by now that this means he has until recently been engaged with a job.

How bows deeply as he draws level with the bed and his head remaining bowing he remarks,

"I am sorry!"

"What on earth for, Subaru-kun?"

"You have been worrying because of what I told you and because of that worry you have not slept and thus you collapsed."

"Subaru-kun, it was not your fault." He remarks as he grabs for the boy's chin.

There is the threat of tears in those beautiful eyes and suddenly he realises what it was that Noruko had been trying to tell him.

If it had been Subaru at his side when he had collapsed…if he had scared the boy in the fashion Noruko claimed he had scared Sakura…

"I am the one who should apologise. If I had been taking better care of myself…"

The boy smiles at last and enquires,

"How are you feeling now?"

"As I have done countless times before when I have dreamt of her and yet…

"Always before I have recalled my dreams of her in vivid detail, recall everything but her words…

"In this dream I recall nothing except…"

There is the faint ache in his head, an ache he recalls well from his childhood and that had not bothered him since he had crossed onto the Clamp Campus for the first time.

Despite this disassociation he knows still that this pain can mean but one thing.

"There is something…squirreled away in the back of my mind and held by something very, very powerful."

"Might I have a look?" The boy enquires as he raises his hands, palms facing away from him, so that Seishiro might better understand the entirety of what eh was requesting.

"Of course."

The boy settles his hands into Seishiro's hair and after a moment fragments begin appearing within his mind.

'I will see you again.' The words that she had spoken to him just before she had pressed her mark to his forehead.

'Hello, my one.' The first words spoken within that nightmare, 'Did I not tell you that I would see you again' the last thing she had uttered before…before the nightmare had drawn out to its conclusion.

Finally two whispered words,

'Ueno Park.'

He gently removes Subaru's hand from his forehead before he gains his feat, his mind intent on one goal…one purpose.

"Seishiro-san, where are you going?"

"She wishes me to go to Ueno Park and though I know I shall most likely find my death there I can not deny her…" He feels Subaru's hand cease into the back of his shirt and though he stops, he can not bring himself to turn and face whatever emotion waits, as a trap, within the boy's eyes.

"Let me come."

"Why?"

"She is the enemy of my clan, Seishiro. If she has truly exposed herself in order to might kill you, then I can not but take the opportunity."

"Will your powers not be drained?"

"No, for there was nothing for me to truly do at this last job."

"Then it was a prank?"

"Not really…it was, rather, an old woman who was looking for a friend and who was a little afraid of the failings of her once confident body."

"You are too kind…" He mumbles, before he turns at last to look the boy in the eyes.

After a moment he sighs and turning away again remarks,

"If you truly wish to come then I shall not stop you."

"Thank you."

They are all but alone when they cross finally into the park, the press of tourists that had been here but weeks ago all but a passing memory.

"There is something here that is full of a negative energy and the screams of the restless dead." Subaru remarks, a professional distance clear now upon his face.

"Show me."

The boy's normally sedate gait fades as he walks in front of Seishiro, his steps becoming now swift, agile and more suited to one of the Onmyoji profession.

They come eventually into the shade of a tall sakura, the branches of which are laden still with blossoms despite the season.

A sharp pain courses across his mind and suddenly he sees her again within his minds eye…feels her hands, as ice, on his shoulders and watches as her blood red lips move to inform him,

'The Sakurazukamori is barren always, trapped, as their tree, in the eternal twilight of spring.'

"This is her tree, that which feeds upon the souls of the dead."

"Yet the Sakurazukamori deal in illusion and deceit, why would she so willingly expose the very centre of her power and existence?"

"Because you are of no threat to me, Sumeragi and because soon this shall all belong to Seishiro."

It is not the dark shadow of a voice that he has recalled from his dreams, but a softer, sweeter, melody that ceases his heart hard.

"Sakura-chan?"

The girl falls from the branches of the tree, her lips twisted into a bitter mockery of a smile,

"Recall the Sumeragi's words, Seishrio? The one you thought of as Sakura was naught but illusion."

"Why?" He enquires as he moves to stand a little before Subaru, shielding the boy as best he can with his own body.

"Why? For you, Seishiro, all I have done since that first day in the hospital has been for you."

He recalls, as she says this, the other fragments of his 'dream', recalls her terrible story and the blood soaked legacy that she claimed his but for the matter of love.

A random, blood chilling, thought enters his mind and dreading already the answer he enquires,

"What have you done to Imonoyama-san?"

"Noruko, come here pet." She requests, a pull in her voice now that can only be magic.

Noruko leaps free of the tree a moment later, a look of one hypnotised about him.

"As you can see he is well enough for the moment, indeed he believes himself enjoying the greatest time of his life."

"Why, if you wanted me, did he have to be involved? Why did you have to enthral Imonoyama-san into your illusion?"

"I had thought to simply claim you when I found you again after so long without you.

"Yet you came into the thrall of the Sumeragi and I knew that you would not so willingly come to me.

"Thus I had thought to work my way into Noruko's confidence and with his aid bring you to trust the word of Sakura beyond the word of the Sumeragi.

"It was unfortunate that I had not taken into account that Noruko was the One of a Takumura and thus guarded with an overt suspicion.

"I had not planed for the Takumura's challenge, Noruko's reaction nor had I planed for your own response to Sakura once the situation had settled a little.

"To have you ignore me…to have you hate me even though I was showing you an innocent facade…I could not stand it and thus I risked myself a little.

"Once you knew in your heart what I was, I could not see a point in hiding any longer…could not see a point in maintaining the lies of the illusion."

As she spoke a soft light fell about her and slowly the girl he had known as Sakura passed away into the dangerous beauty of the Sakurazukamori.

"The game is over, Seishrio and it is time now for you to take your role."

The branches of the tree move with lightning swiftness to pass behind him and wrap about Subaru…to hang the boy a little from the floor by the fragile skin of his neck.

They twirl also in Noruko's direction, their trajectory high enough that it is clear they are aiming to kill rather than capture.

He hears distantly a cry and the sickening thud as the branches hit skin and yet he can not bring himself to see what has occurred…can not bring his eyes away from Subaru's steadily decreasing struggles.

"Choose." She informs him as she steps close enough that eh can strike for her should he wish.

There is a desire in his heart to slay her, to steal her great power so that he could free Subaru from the grip of the tree and yet…

To claim that power would be to become a murderer…

Would be as risking the chance that the power could corrupt him and bring him to allow Subaru's death just as the Sakurazukamori had allowed the death of her unborn child.

What could he do?

What choice did he have?

Looking to the maddened eyes of the Sakurazukamori he feels a cold comprehension swamp him…

There _is_ no choice.

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T: Only two more chapters to go…will explain thingies in the last chapter! R+R, it gives me joy!


	9. Final Contact

9. Final contact.

T: I really really can not say a thing about this chapter without spoiling things…just recall the previous chapter's warning! Nope still not mine.

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She had considered her next step swiftly after she had left Noruko to care for Seishiro and had decided to let go her procrastination and listen to her heart.

It was while making this choice that the sharp shock of one of her spells breaking, had hit her.

Further examination told her that it had been the holds on her boy's memory that had failed and she had known then, beyond doubt, that today would be the day when her long wait was ended.

Wishing now to sever all her ties to the false shell of Sakura she had gone to Noruko as the dawn had broken and requested that he join her in a stroll about Ueno Park.

She had allowed him to talk a while with her about the welfare of her boy and of the arrival of the Sumeragi before she had bored of the false joy in his voice and caught him into the thrall of a spell.

But moments after that she had felt her boy cross into the park and she had taken her post in the protective embrace of her tree.

She listens to their talk until the Sumeragi questions her judgement and then, pushing free of the branches, she makes herself known.

Her boy seems surprised by her appearance and she makes reference to something the Sumeragi had said previously before to clarify the matter.

His mind catches onto a dark consequence of her false face and he enquires, with some terrible foreboding of the answer written already on his face, after the welfare of Noruko.

Once the boy is revealed she talks a little of her careful planning, of her choice to follow her heart and she feels the affects of Oniichan's spell fall away from her at last.

Again in her true form she feels strong, confident and calling the tree to aid her she takes control of the situation.

She had thought to kill Noruko, in order to maintain the secret of her identity and yet as the branches head for his heart a voice calls out the other's name.

There is a soft thud as the branch tears into skin and then she is looking again into the calm golden eyes of the Takumura.

He smiles as only one who has fulfilled a duty can and then he pulls himself to his feet, the skin of his shoulder tearing further as he works himself up the branch.

There is a want for confrontation in his eyes and she finds a dark amusement in it which she sets aside, for the moment, in favour of remaining attentive of her boy and the choice she has want to ask him for.

He has turned from her and she little loves this, thus she moves to stand again in his eye sight, her lips voicing that terrible choice as she settles herself but a hands reach from him.

"How can you do this when you know the pain of making such a terrible choice? Indeed how can you serve the sakura so willingly when it was for its sake that your child died?" Her boy enquires, a desperate hope clear in his voice.

"What does that child matter to me now, when I have you? The sakura gave me the power to mark you and thus allow myself to make sure always that you were safe…alive.

"The sakura also gave me the form of a little girl so that I might spend time with you and learn of you without you acting in haste.

"Perhaps once I hated it for the loss of my baby and yet now it has given me so much that I can not begrudge it that one sacrifice."

His shoulders sag and she feels guilty for destroying a little of his fragile home and yet this is the way it has been always from Sakurazukamori to Sakurazukamori.

Odd how she now so willingly accepts the 'must be's' that are buried within the legacy that she wishes passed to her boy, especially when at the beginning she had chilled at the thought of doing as Oniichan before her and forcing Seishiro to be something he had no wish to be.

She recollects that Oniichan had told her once that his feelings towards the sakura had changed over the years, that he had once loved the power it gave him and yet now loathed it with a passion.

She had asked him why and he had touched her face gently before replying,

'Because of you, Setsuka.

'After I met you I realised how tied the sakura's power had made me…realised that I would never get a chance to laugh freely and truly with you as I desired.'

Had her opinion of the tree changed truly changed simply for the love of her boy? Had she allowed her dark heart and her lighter self to merge all for the sake of love?

The Sumeragi is all but blue by now and a determination comes to her boy's face before he requests,

"Set him free, Sakurazukamori, or at least let him breath, for I want a moment with him before I give you my choice."

"My name is Setsuka, Seishiro and I shall lease him but a little to thus ensure that you do not simply snatch him into your arms and flee."

Her boy moves swiftly to the Sumeragi's side and begins to talk to the other in a whisper, his hands reaching to caress the boy's face as he talks.

She angers quickly to the sight of her boy's obvious affection for the other and she allows her anger to again swamp away her morality and compassion,

"You're time runs short, Seishiro."

Her boy grasps harder to the Sumeragi and the other shakes his head vehemently before her boy says something that seemingly irradiates whatever the argument had been for the Sumeragi nods once and then falls oddly still.

Her boy stands and smiling to her he remarks,

"I fear that I have not chosen either of the options presented to me this day, but that I have chosen a hidden option of which only I had any idea."

As the words leave his mouth she feels the familiar pressure of magic in the air and realises, all but an instant too late, why the Sumeragi had stilled so suddenly.

Her boy collapses as though his bones have been stolen from him and she forgets about duty and protocol and runs to his side.

He is not moving and already he feels chilled, yet with the fall and the bite of the coming autumn on the air, these things may yet prove insignificant.

It is the lack of a pulse or a breath that tells her what she had feared the very instant that he had collapsed.

He is dead.

She feels her heart numb away and there is a wild thought in her to kill the Sumeragi and wrought a vengeance upon him.

Yet she knows this is an empty thought, that no matter what she does now her boy is dead and her release from that terrible legacy is gone.

She grips him hard to her in a hope of reviving his life…in restoring her freedom to her and yet she knows it is empty.

She pulls herself into an illusion of invisibility and then she turns in on herself.

Oniichan is waiting as always and he has but to look at her face before he enquires,

'He is gone, is he not?'

She nods and he bends to kiss her forehead,

'What am I to do now, Oniichan? How can I live like this forever knowing he is gone and that I am alone always?'

He regards her a moment and then his smile fades away so that he seems now so unlike the man who had raised her.

'Setsuka, there are rules and regulations to being Sakurazukamori, which, as you know, I hate greatly.

'Willingly I have aided you in my death just as Kasan aided me, willingly I have allowed you to care for another and have aided you in gaining his faith.

'Yet I shall not stand aside and watch you suffer, not when even in death I love you.'

He steps to her and furls her into his arms, the chill of his body as welcome to her as it always has been.

He kisses her forehead again and then he places his fingers about her neck, the chill ceasing her muscles and cutting her breath short even before he begins to squeeze.

It is painful and yet she welcomes it for it allows her to think of something other than the absolute grief of loosing her boy.

With her last breath she thanks Oniichan for this final gift to her and then death takes her and all thought and care fades into emptiness.

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T: Yes there is another chapter…you'll have to wait and see what is in it! R+R…please!


	10. Dying to be with you

10. Dying to be with you.

T: Everyone is being suspiciously quiet after that last chapter…hope I didn't scare you away! Warnings remain the same and surprise, surprise, it's still not mine!

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Meeting Seishiro had proven even more of a significant moment in his life that Subaru had ever thought to believe.

Then man had been all he had thought he might be; charming, amusing and clever, yet there had also been hidden facets to the man, things that had made him a delight to know…

The melancholy that would take him whenever he recollected something that recalled his father to him, this despite Seishiro's obvious contempt for the man…

The passion with which he searched for answers to mysteries he did not understand, even when those answers proved unwanted or dangerous…

The kindness with which he treated those who had luck enough to be considered his friends…

The way in which he occasionally hid that kindness behind a blanket of harshness or sarcastic comment…

Without thought or consideration he had fallen for that other side of the man he had all but looked up to through his early childhood.

It had been embarrassing, at first, to hold such a lusting for one who should be as sempi to him and yet Seishiro seemed not to be adverse to his affection, indeed he seemed almost to welcome it.

To have submitted to this emotion and then to have heard that Seishiro had collapsed…he had felt his heart cease so hard for the thought of the other ill, or worse, dead and he had gone as swift as he could to the Imonoyama mansion.

He is shown in my a maid, dutily informed that Noruko has kept a careful watch on Seishiro and that, as yet, there had been no adverse change to the older man's condition.

She then shows him to the room in which Seishiro is being kept and he is about to knock when it opens out to reveal Noruko,

"Good morning, Sumeragi-san, are you here to see Yuko-san?"

"Yes, if it is no bother."

"Of course it is no bother." The other remarks as he steps by Subaru both in order to let him into the room beyond and also so that he might continue his journey down the hallway.

Subaru apologises to Seishiro for his part in the older man's stress and he proceeds to clam him and indeed apologises in kind for not better looking out for himself.

They settle into an easy conversation that leads, as always to the matter of the Sakurazukamori.

He offers to search Seishiro's memory and lease any blocks that have been placed on the recollections and though the spell requires no physical contact he reaches to hold the older mans head anyway; the movement driven by the desire in his heart.

But a moment later Seishiro is upon his feet, a determination in his eyes that Subaru fears and thus when he learns of its cause…of Seishiro's intent…he makes a request to join the older man.

Seishrio tries hard to dissuade him, perhaps because he fears that Subaru will be hurt or because he fears him burden. Whatever the reason Subaru wins this argument in the end and they set out together for Ueno Park.

He can heart the screams of the tortured souls still in his mind, indeed he does not believe he shall ever be rid of that sound…

There is such a terrible pain centred within this thing of beauty, the blossoms that coat its branches even in the first hints of autumn, but one sign that this tree is not what it seems…is, in fact, a dark thing.

He can see still the double image of the Sakurazukamori and the form she currently inhabited, the two overlaid like some shoddy attempt at camera trickery.

She had talked to Seishiro, dispensed her child's form and without provocation she had cut away his air supply.

Suspended a little from the floor he had wondered, dimly, if this was how hanging victims felt before even this barely rational thought had faded from him.

He had all but believed himself dead when the grip had relaxed and Seishiro is there at his side, his eyes oh so gentle.

"Subaru-kun, there is not much time left and there are things I must say before I make a hard request of you." The older man's hands are on his face then, the warmth of his skin a thing recalled still within Subaru's mind.

"Firstly I need you to know that I love you, Subaru-kun.

"I love and trust you beyond any other in this world.

"Even if there were another here who could so as I am to ask I would not request it of them, that you must believe completely.

"Subaru-kun, I wish you to perform the Segregation spell upon me."

He can recall still that his heart, which had been beating so hard for the joy of Seishiro's confession, had stilled and all but stopped at that request.

The Segregation spell was one that lingered in the grey edges of Onmyojic magic, something that was frowned on by Sumeragi and yet beneficial enough that it could not be warranted a dark spell.

Simply the spell segregated a soul from its mortal shell and encased it within the heart of the caster for any length of time up to three years. It had been used in the more troubled times in the clans history to give the illusion of death to a Clan leader and thus allow them to pass, unhindered, through the barricades of their enemy.

The Sakurazukamori had warned of the dwindling time limit and vehemently Subaru had shook his head, his voice still not recovered from the strangulation of the branches.

"It is the only way, Subaru."

Of course Seishiro had been right and hesitant still to open Seishiro out to the risks of the spell Subaru had stilled himself and began to chant silently within his mind so as not to alert the Sakurazukamori to his intent.

She realises a moment before Seishiro collapses and she reaches the older man just as he impacts with the ground.

She sits a while simply holding him and then she disappears, the only trace of her presence a lone Sakura blossom that lingers on Seishiro's chest.

With her gone the tree frees both himself and Suoh completely and aware that there is nothing he can do for Seishiro at the moment, he crosses over to the younger boy.

"Takumura-san, are you alright?"

He nods weekly, his left hand squeezing hard to his right shoulder in hopes of staunching the bleeding.

"What of Noruko and Seishiro-sempi?"

Aware that there is not yet time to explain Seishiro's situation to the Takumura he replies,

"Seishrio-san shall be okay. As to Imonoyama-san…"

The other had been slumped against the trunk of the tree and though there had been no harm evident on his body Suoh had still come to his side swiftly and with a panicked fervour began to call the Imonoyama's name.

He stirs long enough to inquire as to his location and then he is asleep again, a parlour to his skin now that worries Subaru enough that he checks the boy for any malevolent spells.

It is only when he finds nothing that he relaxes, something that seemingly comforts the Takumura, for he lowers himself to sit at the Imonoyama's side, fatigue clear in his eyes.

He is just considering the best and swiftest way to contact help when the wail of a siren cuts into his thought process, the almost miraculous appearance of the ambulance due, as he will later learn, to the watchful eye that his Obaachan has always upon him.

It does not take Subaru long to be leased again from the hospital and once free he wrings his Obaachan in order to arrange for Seishiro's 'body' to be taken to the room at the basement of the Sumeragi household. The small box room had been designed specifically to hold those currently under a Segregation spell, with spells placed upon it to stop the decomposition of the body and to maintain the lucidity of the muscles.

Once this is done he goes to visit the other two victims of the attack in Ueno Park.

Suoh had suffered a mild blood loss and the damage to his shoulder had been enough that he had required surgery. Once he had recovered from the anaesthetic he had requested that he be moved to Noruko's room, a request that had been granted only when the Takumura had threatened to sign himself out of the hospital even though he was not fully recovered.

Of the Imonoyama the doctors would not speak to him, informing him that the Takumura had requested that only family be kept informed of the boys progress.

Thus Subaru had come to sit with the Takumura and after a while discussing simple things he had enquired,

"How is he? The doctors would not tell me and I was worried."

"Forgive the caution, Sumeragi-san, but I am afraid that if the wrong people learned how vulnerable Noruko is at the moment…"

"I understand, Takumura-san, of course I do…is his condition bad then?"

"He can not recall anything certain of the past few weeks and when he tries to focus on anything he falls asleep. The doctors thought that it might be brain damage, but there was nothing on the CAT scans and they've got no other theories at the moment."

"It is more than likely that the Sakurazukamori placed a block on his memories and if that is the case I should be able to give him back his memories."

The Takumura tensed a little and his eyes moving to focus on the wall away from the Imonoyama he remarked,

"I do not know if I wish you to restore those memories, Sumeragi-san, both for Noruko's sake and my own. For it will hurt him to recall how much Sakura betrayed him and there is the chance that he shall mean still what he said to me."

"Again I understand, Takumura-san and yet I believe you see as well as I that it must be up to Imonoyama to make that choice."

"I suppose so." His eyes move again to linger on the sleeping form to his right and after a moment he enquires,

"What did you do to Seishiro-sempi? After it was over you told me that he was 'alright' but the man in the ambulance said that he was dead…"

"It is complex, Takumura-san."

"I have time, Sumeragi-san and please, it's Suoh."

"And I am Subaru."

………………………………………………………………………….

"…cold down here." One of the free figures concludes as he huddles closer to his neighbour.

Said individual rolls his eyes and pulling his scarf free says,

"You were warned that it would get chilly, but as per usual you refused to listen."

"I thought you were attempting to mother me again, Suoh." The colder of the pair remarks as he furls the scarf about him,

"I do not 'mother' you, Noruko; I simply worry after your safety."

"You mother him, Suoh-kun, we all know it and you had best let it go before he makes you sleep on the couch…again." The final member of the trio remarks.

Noruko breaks into giggles and leasing Suoh enquires,

"Has he been coming to you to complain again, Subaru-kun?"

The other nods and pauses to strike into an over the top mimicry of one who has suffered long from hardship he says,

"He came at three in the morning once, clutching at his bad shoulder and moaning about how the horrible lumpy couch was going to remove what use there was in that area."

"How shameful of him to play on your pity like that! Especially when it is his own fault that he is on the couch in the first place."

"Noruko, you know as well as I that sometimes you are a little overly sensitive. As for you Subaru-san…I shall put this odd behaviour down to nervousness on your part."

Subaru smiles at this before he begins to move again down the corridor.

He is, in fact, very nervous and the occasional bouts of insane levity that have dotted their journey here have, as Suoh had pointed out, been fuelled by this emotion.

It has been two long years since he last saw the man that he loves, since he heard that heart aching confession and since he cast the Segregation spell.

This time he has spent aiding Noruko in recovering his memories and then in bringing his two friends to a point where they could admit to one another the thing that had both been dancing about since before Sakura had come into their lives.

He had spent it also in searching for any clue as to what had occurred to the Sakurazukamori, something that had born fruit when, but a year after the attack in Ueno Park, the tree had wilted and died.

After that he had been called to Kyoto to aid his grandmother in restoring balance to the Tokyo and in placing the souls of the tree to rest.

This monstrous task at last completed and his magic restored to sufficient level, he had come at last to bring Seishiro's soul back to its body.

He crosses over the threshold of the box room alone, for he needs to concentrate in order for this spell to succeed.

There is a moment after he has finished the chanting where he believes he has failed…believes that Seishiro will remain dead and then the other moves.

His hands rise to pull Subaru to him and after a while simply holding him he enquires,

"How long has it been?" His voice retaining still its vitality thanks to the spells within the box room.

"Two years."

"Has she tried to come for me?"

"She is dead."

"Good." He replies before he moves his head a little and pulls Subaru up and into a kiss.

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T: Ta da! Originally I had Subaru place Sei-chan in a crypt but then I stared to think about decomposition and other such things and thus was born the box room. Please review and give this poor authoress whatever praise/ criticism you wish! Titt next time…Ja!


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